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frank9755
Depends on what they mean by "keys destroyed". Destroying what they think is the only copy of the private key or seed phrase does not irrevocably destroy the coins. But transferring the coins to an invalid address (where no corresponding private key can exist to be able to transfer them on) does "destroy" the coins.
The current estimate is that ~18% of coins in circulation have been "lost" to various degrees. So it's possible to just knock off this percentage from the "market cap" for a less inaccurate measure.
(I agree that the concept of a "market cap" is nebulous, but that doesn't stop it being used widely in the finance world even for normal stocks. Best not to fixate on it too much.)